there are health reasons why george h.w. bush could not make the trip to washington, d.c. george w. bush just did have heart surgery, although i think i saw him at the smu football game last night. there are also apparently some dispute over how much notice some of the no-shows got from organizers. while we can quibble over they got one, two or three weeks notice, what we do know is this milestone event, the 50th anniversary of the march on washington, was not one that republicans marked on their own calendars and made it a priority to commemorate. after all, they didn't have to be invited to speak to just show up and pay their respects. let's not pretend this is surprising because part of the story of the civil rights movement, a big part is how it fundamentally remade both political parties. leaving one a lot more interested in and responsive to the plight of black americans than the other. this graph tells the story. it shows which party black americans have identified with since 1936. you can see in the early years there around the depression and world war ii, it's basically a t